Pieter C. Emmer is Professor Emeritus at Leiden University. He is the author of The Dutch in the Atlantic Economy, 1580-1880 (1998), The Dutch Slave Trade, 1500-1850 (2006) and is co-editor of The Encyclopedia of Migration and Minorities in Europe (2011) and Who Abolished Slavery? (2010). Jos J. L. Gommans is Professor of Colonial and Global History at Leiden University. He is the author of The Rise of the Indo-Afghan Empire, 1710-1780, (1999, 3rd edition 2018), Mughal Warfare: Indian Frontiers and High Roads to Empire (2002), The Indian Frontier: Horse and Warband in the Making of Empires (2018), The Unseen World: The Netherlands and India from 1550 (2018) and co-editor of Exploring the Dutch Empire; Agents, Networks and Institution, 1600-2000 (2005).
'The early modern field needs a single book on the Dutch 'empire' that treats Atlantic and Asian waters together, making this a go-to work. … a comprehensive and authoritative treatment of the subject.' Harold J. Cook, Journal of Modern History